LETTER FROM PARIS JANUARY 22 O N the popular American as- sumption that the French never pay their taxes, February should be, as usual, the month when the Frenchman starts not paying his an- nual income tax, of which the first third, based on the income- tax return he filled out the year before, is then due The second third is due in Mav, and the halance-which can be considerably hIgheJ than a third third- is due at any time before the year's end. The further Amencan idea that the French at least skImp on their tax dec- larations was doubtless created by their historical extreme distaste for paying their taxes at all, since taxes used to be collected for the king (and his family and mistresses), a situation that even- tually provoked, in part, the Revolution. Still another American notion-that the French haggle about their taxes with the percepteur, or collector-probably comes from the fact that a Frenchman may, and does, haggle ahout them if a collector who has smelled a rat has loaded him with an exaggeratedly big third payment (so as to be sure of getting something extra out of him), w here- upon the two men argue it out and, by haggling, arrive at a neW figure, ordi- narily much less than the collector asked (and did not expect to receive) but in- variably much more (and presumably a more just tax) than the trapped French citizen figured on paying. This special attack by the local co]- lector is traditionally based on what are called "exterior igns of riches." If a wealthy Frenchman is suspected of hav- ing skimped too holdl) on his income- tax report, "the elements of his scale of living" are used by the collector as yardsticks for a painful estimate of his taxable income. For example, three hundred thousand francs ( $ 714) is considered necessary for his first serv- ant (if the servant is under sixty years old, that IS; when servants are older than that, it is held that their wages are too low to bother about), and six hundred thousand francs more IS added for each additional domestic. For each "fiscal horsepower" -a horsepower rat- ing upon which taxation is based- it. And while most people can drInk almost any good coffee and like it, these coffee fans can really tell the di f- ference blindfold, and kick like steers if they're served anything other than Fromme's FInest. Well, I surely am grateful to these fussy folks, because they keep our busIness constantl} growing. There are five of the world's greatest and most costly coffees in that black can, each playing its part, like the instru- ments of a quintet, in the heart warming harm on} which IS yours with Fromme's Finest Coffee. :, ,ol, If"'I ,,::': " ':: ,:" " ;,;":":",,,, ',' ,:,::"""" ',,:,,, ': ",:"""""""" , , P :R ' S 'w.E N " $ 0:::..:::::::'.:..: "." :j . . , : : : . >v T'ED STRAÉTER . .:: ::::: , , .. . . ,:,Hls Søng$ ' Piano ond" Qrd1i;tstra "'9': '! "ft, y "MARK'::""MO:f!j: E"S "CONT., ,_NTAL$ . - .. - 'THE PJ<JttZ-A ",fifth À.e aÎ 59th ",:S):;;" N "'Y ;"':;:Pl; ' , ,, O ONLY ONE PERSON in ten rates as a real coffee lover-but that one person wIll walk more than a camel's mile for a can of Fromme's Finest. Coffee wise people simply must have '- p.. .. , V E 8' ,. - - _.:!>--, , ' .. - - - .. - - -... .. -------- ---- --- - - --- ...... .. L- .- J . _ ;.: 7- - C "'-Ø V . ',-- '" if . == " - ::::--:.:::=:: == = -- :=:: W .. .. ;:=: - s- : :.4 = -:. - -. == . \\\\\\\ . -- l\)\\\t :. -: =- \1.\\\\ : : Vl . f ç 2==- = e , o, \.(:)tC>M-- == o '^ : ATE MAlA' soURS : = --:. - - # 67 ,:::: ............,'.. .... -_..:-}.., ". : : .:: i ...'-; :'Ii> "v.-,":-:::. ":.,., ...;.-...... '> ifft ü 'fi 1- -." ,,(' :, "',' r", :,,' y' ':": " " ." .:.:.. .I ::,:/ "'f. If you are iust as particular about your Demi-Tasse Es- presso Coffee you will find my Caffé Vivo most satisfying Both of these great coffees at Abraham & Straus, Charles & Co., Ð' Agostino Markets, Gim- bels N ew York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh; Vendôme, Penn Fruit Gourmet Shops, PhIladelphia, Strawbridge & ClothIer, Philadelphia, W ood- ward & Lothrop, Washington D. C. HARRY FROMME Coffl?A MllttJ 66 Front Street · New York 4, N. Y. · HA 2-8620